A pet store in my area has a breeding pair of red rumped parakeets for sale. They are approx. 2 years old and healthy. My question is how much are they worth? Grass keets are uncommon where I live and you usually can only get $50 for babies. The store wants $399 and I think that's insane. I want to help broaden the choice of smaller parrots in Ny area, so I want to start breeding on my own. Opinions?

I'm sure I won't be the only one to say this but, if you want to breed to make money you should probably just quit while you're ahead lol. Once you factor in food, bedding, toys, vet care, cleaning supplies, hand feeding formula, syringes, scales, all that good stuff, it's hard to even break even with only a few pairs. It's something you have to REALLY want to do, if it's something you will get enjoyment out of and you are confident you can find homes for the babies, then go for it

I don't know why that link says north carolina, it's for new york, but I also noticed in your info it says North Dakota. Are you from NY or ND?

I am not doing it for money. I live in North Dakota, and we have very limited options when it comes to birds. Id like to breed parrotlets or some other small, family friendly bird that's not a budgie, tiel, or lovie(we have them at least). I have bred and hand raised ringnecks, sun conures, English budgies, Senegals, GCCs, tiels, lovebirds, splendid keets, rosey Bourkes, quakers, and Amazons at my former job. I have found a lack of choices for beginners, and families in my area, people are unable to find the perfect match for them. I have worked in the bird and pet industry for over 10 years, and i love matching pet and owners.
That is why i was even considering this pair, because there are so few opportunities to even find breeders. The same store(which i despise and would normally never go there) now has a pair of parrotlets also. But they don't even actually know the birds' age, or if they are proven (they didn't know what proven meant!). I know i obviously shouldn't think about buying either of these. But, ive wanted to do this for a long time, especially parrotlets. They are such amazing little birds but you rarely see them here. Ugh! Ill probably just keep watching and waiting.